Mithros' Mercenaries Old
by sirladyknight
Summary: Please see my profile for the new and improved version of this story, please.
1. A Glimpse of Freedom

Sulking down the road on a useless beast that would have been more useful as glue, the young man who now called himself 'Jay' could not help remembering the last time he had traveled.

When he had traveled, he would travel in the luxury reserved for a prince. Riding on a tall and proud warhorse, armored guard surrounding him; watching his every move. He would sleep in the feather beds of Dukes and eat delicacies with Counts. Now he was alone, on a dirt road in the hill country region of Tortall, sweating with only a thin black cloak to keep the burning sun, off his back. There were no feather beds or fancy foods waiting for him, only a bedroll and some cold meat.

Jay cursed his own lack of preparedness. If he had figured out what he would of needed he wouldn't be stuck with only a black cloak to keep the sun off. Cloaks, especially not black ones, weren't known for their sun repellence. Not to mention this…this…thing…that the man had called a horse. Jay knew now that he had spent too much money on the mule, but he had been in a hurry to get out. It would have helped more if he had known where he was going.

Jay thought back. Now that he thought about it he wasn't sure why he had left again. There had to have been some reason. But like many times that day he had to remind himself.

Then he remembered; he had been suffocating. Not in a literal sense, but still suffocating non-the less. He just needed a change, and what a better change then this. Two weeks of hard riding must have dulled his memory.

The dirt from the road, he thought, would be forever embedded into his skin. Even miles from the capital now he still checked over his shoulder every now and then for guards.

Jay felt a breeze come up behind him and he gratefully pulled back his hood. His coal black hair almost matched the color of the cloak. He wouldn't—couldn't take off his hood in larger populated areas, but out here in hill country who would recognize him? _Or at least who I look like, _he thought ruefully, his sapphire eyes glistening.

The road he was traveling on suddenly sloped and Jay had a clear view of the River Drell. He had seen this river before. On some travels he had taken he had come close to the river. At that time, however, it had just seemed like a long strip of water that marked the border. But now, to Jay this river represented something he had never known before in his entire life…freedom.

Crossing this river into Tusaine would allow Jay to travel. He could see the world he had only dreamed of seeing. He could walk free among people—real common people, without being looked up upon, or down upon, for whom his father was. He could be a human being for once—an actual person. Someone who was not what his parents or anyone told him to be. He would just be Jay.

As Jay made his way down the inclined road to the river, he could not have known that all of his hopes were about to be dashed; that he would never in reality leave Tortall to be a free man. _IF_ he had been paying the slightest bit of attention, however, he might have seen the four men come stealthily out of the woods on either side of him. But he didn't, and at this moment precisely all of Jay's dreams of being a common human being were swept away with the breeze.

**OKAY—here's the deal. First off for the DISCAIMER: I do not have the privilege of owning anything that has to do with Tortall. I am not talented enough to come up with something so great. I may own some of the characters coming up in later chapter however.**

**Second—this is my First ever fanfic. I most likely would never have posted this had it not been brewing in my head for so long. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! If you don't it won't break my heart. I will still write on.**

**BY THE WAY—any guess as to who "Jay" is? (hehehehe)**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006)**


	2. A Father's Disappointment

_Jay sat in front of his father's desk, waiting for him to bring the gavel of judgment down upon him. His father just sat there, piercing Jay with his eyes of sapphire, so much like his own. The drumming of his fingers on the hardwood desk made Jay nervous. This hadn't been the first time he'd been interrogated. His father always seemed to find some reason to scold him._

_Jay held his breath. Any second now. Just wait for it, he thought. Always at first his father wanted to just sit there and wallow in worry and thought about what he had done wrong._

_Finally, his father opened his mouth and then…he sighed._

"_Jasson," he said it calmly with a small groan. He put on his most disappointed look, which seemed to be reserved for Jay alone. Why couldn't he find something good ever? No it was always disappointment. Never anything more._

_No matter how nervous he was, Jay stared his father right in the eye. The other times he had gotten this look from his father he had been ashamed of himself. He would stare at his lap and not make eye contact with his father. But not this time. This time was different._

_The other times, Jay had done something stupid and immature just for the sake of being a pain. He had found it fun and an easy way to get attention that was given to his older siblings. But this tim,e Jay had not done anything worth receiving this treatment, except what he had wanted to and what he had thought was right for once in his life._

"_What?" Jay responded, a little more aggressively then necessary._

_There it was again; his father just sighed. Jay nearly laughed, thinking he may make a record for how many times he sighed in a minute but stopped himself. He was too angry for laughing. _

_His father put his head in his hands and said through his fingers, "What were you thinking?"_

_Jay gritted his teeth. "I was thinking of helping people," Jay breathed deep, trying to get his anger under control. "Any decent person would have done the same."_

_Jay's father took his hands away from his face. His face, at one time filled with disappointment, was replaced with fury. "You could have been hurt—killed if the guards hadn't gotten there when they did." He shook his head, looking at Jay like he must have been either very stupid or out of his mind._

_Jay's mouth fell open. "I would not have been killed. It would have been a peaceful demonstration had the provost not shown up." Jay sat back in his chair and crossed his arm over his chest. "And I bet I know who sent him." Jay looked at the rage grow still yet on his father's features with a mixture of satisfaction and regret._

The dream came to a sudden end when Jay felt his body sway uncomfortably. He opened his eyes and looked up at the…. sky? Jay sat there for a moment and just watched the clouds flout by; not understanding where he was or how he got there.

Had he been killed? Maybe he was going to the Black God. But he'd never heard of seeing the sky before you were taken up. A wave of panic hit him. He couldn't die! Not when he was so close!

"Ay! Maverick, 'e's awake!"

"I see that Prewt. I ain't blind!"

"Am I dead?" Jay asked, interrupting the men's argument.

"Not yet you ain't, you dirty bandit!" That came from the voice of the man who had spoken first. Prewt had it been?

Jay panicked. Yet! He thought feverishly. He sat up quickly. He had the quick five-second view of his surroundings. He was in a shabby rowboat. For a second he even thought it a wonder that the thing was still afloat.

Right in front of him was a man with a gaunt face and skinny skeleton. His receding hairline giving him a high forehead with only a bit of reddish brown hair left on the top. Jay was only able to glimpse the two men rowing before the man in front of him kicked him in the collarbone, knocking him down to the floor of the boat once again.

Jay hadn't notice the humongous bump on the back of his skull until it broke his fall. Yelping out in pain, he instantly reached up, trying to touch the bump out of reflexes but he couldn't. Looking down at his wrists, he grimaced to see them bound.

"That's right ya' filthy thief! Hurt didn't it? Them's steal toes them is!" That was Prewt speaking again. Jay couldn't figure out what in the world he was talking about until he realized that he must have been the one to kick him.

A few times during Jay's trip he had felt confused about why he had left, but right now he felt only plain remorse. Why did I leave? He though over and over. Why? Why? Shows what good it did. He had gone though so much trouble. Sent maybe half of Tortall out hunting for him all for it to end with these…these…people! Whoever they were.

Jay thought about his mother. When was the last time he had seen her? Oh, that's right, it was right before the demonstration. That was as far as his memory went. Had he even said 'goodbye'?

Jay loved his mother. She was the most patient, kind, beautiful person he knew but she was also strong and brave. Unlike his father, she never gave him a look that said she was disappointed in her son. And how had he repaid her? He left with no intention to return, without even saying good-bye.

The boat continued to glide over the water. Where were they going? Jay didn't know. He tried to make himself believe he even cared, but couldn't. All that seemed to matter was the fact that he was going to die, and he would never see his parents again. Or his brothers. Or his sisters. He would even miss his mule. The worthless beast. What had happened to him?

_Why did I leave? Why did I leave?_ was all he could think until the rickety boat gently hit land.

**Disclaimer: I am not genius enough to own anything Tortall.**

**Oh by the way, to the gracious Lady ( ), thank you for reviewing. I wasn't expecting any. And also regarding your guess, I have one word for you—correctamoondo!**

**If you haven't figured out who Jay is yet, then you will have to wait a few weeks. I am not trying very hard to conceal his identity, I mean I can't from most fans, but I don't intend to say it straight out for several more chapters. Thanks again Lady!**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006) **


	3. Little Lady

"I'll skin 'im!" A girl, who looked barely older than 15, yelled as she stormed out of the largest tent in the sea of tents that was the makeshift camp. "I'll hang 'im from a tree by his toes and then skin him alive!"

The people that passed the tent simply covered up smirks. It was common knowledge that her quick temper could easily match even that of the Lioness. "I'll be wishin' that lady knight luck if she ever gets herself into a spat with our, Em," many would say to each other as an inside joke.

"I'm sure he meant no harm, Miss," said a very large, dark skinned man, exiting the tent behind her. Even though he had to tuck away a little smile like everyone else, it would do them all no good to let her run rampant on Prewt no matter how much of a dolt he was. "He probably just-"

"Just what, Bubba?" said the girl rounding on the man. "He completely disobeyed an order I gave him only two days ago because of that fiasco that he pulled off last week!"

A smile crept onto the man's lips in spite of all his fighting. "It is NOT funny!" she roared, erasing his smile in replace of a blank expression. "He picked up an innocent farmer—a farmer, when he was supposed to be looking for that horse thief!" She turned and went on the way she was originally going. "Now I have to go and sort out this mess. Goddess bless the poor soul he picked up this time."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Out!" Prewt roared at Jay as he tried to get out of the boat and onto land. "Are ye' deaf? Get out!" Prewt, not satisfied with Jay's attempts to clamor out of the boat with his arms bound, gave him a push and he stumbled onto dry land.

"C'mon!" pleaded Maverick, who was tying rope to the boat to keep it from floating away. "Leave him be for now. You know that Em will have your head if you beat him with out permission."

"Yeah," said another man who had been rowing. "The little lady won't want you to bloody 'im up too bad without her getting a chance at him first." Both Prewt and the man laughed, but they both froze when they heard the shrill voice yell:

"Prewt, I'll have your head!"

Jay looked up to see a young girl with a tall, dark skinned man walking towards them. The girl looked even younger than Jay, but she had managed to wipe away Prewt's laughter with one yell. She was not very tall, but not short either. Not large, but not small. Her hair was medium, too, not dark but not light. Even her eyes couldn't decide which side to be on, one being a dark forest green, the other a light sky blue.

Her clothes were simple, consisting of only a pair of worn out, tan breeches, black, knee high riding boots, and a blue jacket that came down to her knees. Jay couldn't help notice however the glimmering sword at her belt. It was too small to be really considered a sword, but too big to be a dagger. The only armor that Jay could see was one gauntlet on her right arm that was flame red.

The girl glared daggers at Prewt. "Well, well, well." Prewt shifted nervously from foot to foot. "Some of us never learn."

Staring between the two with curiosity, he tried to push away the dumb founded look. Here was a man of about forty? Maybe even fifty and yet he was cringing away from a girl who was sixteen if barely even that? Well this day just keeps getting more and more interesting, Jay thought though his mind was still preoccupied with well preparing to die!

"Learn wha—"

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT ACTING ON A REPORT WITHOUT MY CONSENT!"

"I—I ddddon't know wwwhat your talking ab—"

The girl grabbed Prewt by the front of his shirt and, even though he stood more than four inches taller than her, pulled him down so they were face to face.

"I'm sorry!" wailed Prewt before the girl could even open her mouth one more. "I'm sorry! It's just we got a report that the bandits from Furan were in this area and I though—"

"You though you would send out a patrol?" Prewt nodded. "Without authorization from your commander?" Prewt shook from head to toe, but slowly nodded his head again.

The girl let out a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself. "I will have you know that Nancy and her _authorized_ patrol captured the last bandits not four hours ago." The girl still glaring at Prewt let her grip on his shirt loosen a little. "You are to never lead a patrol, again. Understand me?" Prewt nodded. "You are to stay in camp and tend the stock."

Prewt's mouth fell open in horror. "The stock! But that be women's—"

"Uh, uh, uh." said the girl shaking a finger in Prewt's face. "We're not being sexist now are we?"

"No, ma'am. 'Course not." Prewt lowered his head.

The girl let go of Prewt's shirtfront, her face still deadly serious as she kept her eyes narrowed at him. She waved her hand back up the trail a bit, nodding her head in the same direction. "Head back to camp after you take care of this boat."

She turned to Jay, face softening. "I am so sorry." She extended a hand to him with a very apologetic look. "I'm Emma Kroft."

**Okay,**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything to do with Tortall. I own Emma and Prewt and Maverick and Bubba.**

**Oh, by the way, I don't own Emma's sword or gauntlet. They both belong to the amazing RPG game of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.**

**So I updated. It didn't explain much, but I hope those beloved few who reviewed are satisfied. I will explain more later I pinky promise!**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006)**


	4. Mithros' Mercenaries

It took Emma a few minutes to register that this man was not shaking her hand. She lowered her hand after a few moments thinking he was not wanting to shake hands with the woman who had just kidnapped him. A part of her thought it insulting. Someone offers you their hand you shake it. Another small part knew it was understandable, though.

Jay finally realizing that she must have thought him rude for not shaking her hand said, "I'm Jay. I would be glad to shake your hand but—" Jay looked down at his hands, holding them up slowly and letting out a small lopsided smile. "I'm kind of tied up at the moment."

Emma gave Jay a look that distinctly said, 'What in the world are you talking about?' Then she looked in the direction of where Jay was looking. "Oh!" She said blushing for her own folly. She unsheathed her glittering blade with the hand gloved with the red gauntlet and carefully broke his bounds.

Jay smiled his thanks at Emma and then finally outstretched is own hand, red from the rope, which tied was surprisingly tight. Jay had no doubt he could thank Prewt for that later.

After Emma shook his hand, she turned quickly to the men who seemed all too prepared to just leave for camp once more.

"Hey!" She shouted. "Where do you think your going?" They all stopped and looked at her as if saying, 'What now?'

She pointed at the boat that was bobbing up and down with the current of the river; the only thing keeping it from floating away was a flimsy rope. Even Jay who was not a skilled sailor could tell that that was just leaving it open to be taken down stream.

"I expect that to be taken care of properly." She turned and signaled Bubba and Jay to follow her. "And don't just drag it up on shore, either! Cover it up as well."

Jay quickly started to follow as he saw Emma start up a barely visible path towards a much wider trail. He expected maybe it was some kind of abandoned road used by smugglers. Was that what these people were smugglers? Staring down at the ground as he walked though he could tell the road had been taken by a much larger number of horses recently. Too many for smugglers.

"Again, I am so sorry about that. Prewt has kind of a history of knocking innocent people over the head." Bubba snorted from behind them and even Emma couldn't help but smile slightly to herself. "I'm afraid your horse was scared into the woods when the men attacked you. We'll try to find it but if not, we will provide you with another one."

Jay thought for a second of maybe telling her the horse was only a piece of pack meat but just stayed quiet. They had attacked him here and taken him prisoner. The least they could do was give him a horse he decided, rubbing his wrists absent. As they walked on, Bubba disappeared into the woods, most likely to scout, Jay thought.

"Also your effects were left at the spot, but we will send someone to retrieve them."

'Um," Jay said. "Uh, not to be rude but who exactly are 'We'?" The question had been bugging him. Of course she must be referring to Prewt and the other men but who were they even? They seemed to be involved in some kind of group. Thieves maybe? Jay wondered, biting the inside of his cheek.

Emma looked at Jay for a second, not understanding what he meant, then when it finally registered she replied, "We are um—how to describe it? Well…." As Emma bit her lip in concentration, trying to decide the best way to describe exactly who 'we' were, Jay and Emma entered into a large clearing with over fifty rusty red tents.

Jay's jaw dropped. All around the camp children were running here and there, livestock held in make shift paddocks, men and women groomed horses, cleaned weapons, or were cooking over campfires. He might have even thought it was a small village if there had been houses. There was just so many people. How had they all gotten here?

Emma smiled triumphantly and waved her arms at the camp.

"This is the camp of the Mithros' Mercenaries."

"The—what?" Jay asked bewildered.

"We are the Mithros' Mercenaries." Emma said again, a satisfied smile on her face, because she could finally remember what they were. "Just your average group of nomadic mercenaries."

"Mercenaries?" Jay asked, a hint of disgust in his voice. "Your _mercenaries_?" Jay had been semi acquainted with that word. He had heard of bands of mercenaries, not this one particularly, but others, from his parents. From what he knew, they were bloodthirsty and would fight anyone for a little money. Mercenaries were little better than bandits. He could not see how these people, even Prewt, could be mercenaries. But then again they had attacked a lone traveler on a road.

"Well—" Emma said, frowning slightly. "I guess not your average mercenaries. I mean it's not like we're savages who travel the country looking to shed blood wherever we see it."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Then what exactly do you do?"

"Well mostly we travel around Tortall, and sometimes into Tusaine and parts of Scanra and well basically…help people." Emma shrugged like she found it so simple. She cast Jay a glance out of the corner of her eye, raising an eyebrow like she may be thinking how could he not get it?

"Help people?" Jay's other eyebrow went up.

Emma gave Jay an irritated look. "Yes, help people. We go to towns that need help; take care of bandits, hill men, help with food shortages."

"Isn't that what the army and King's Own is for?"

"Well that's what they're supposed to be for, but really they can't always get there in time. The Mithros' Mercenaries can travel a quickly and quietly as the Queen's Riders but with the force of the King's Own." Emma added with a hint of bitterness in her voice, "And those nobles don't get what the people are going through either."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked curiously.

"Well, think about it." Emma turned to Jay. "The only time nobles have to deal with famines and droughts is when it happens to the people on their lands. Even then they're not the ones who have to starve and go thirsty. Oh no, of course not."

Jay nodded his head, but decided to let the subject go. He could feel his ears starting to turn slightly red, a bit embarrassed as he must have been guilty of that his entire life. "What do you do with the Mithros' Mercenaries?" Jay asked.

"I'm second in command." Emma said plainly, face blank.

"Whose first in command?" Jay made a pondering face, his mind wondering back to the large man who seemed to be an assistant to Emma. Maybe he'd been wrong. Was he the leader of this group?

Emma laughed and looked at Jay as if he were stupid, which seemed to be happening to him a lot today. He scratched his head as Emma opened her mouth. "Mithros, of course! Who else?" Emma said matter-a-factly, "You don't think we would use Mithros' name if he had no involvement would you?"

**DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT SPECIAL ENOUGH TO OWN ANY OF TAMORA PIERCE'S BOOKS, CHARACTERS, SETTING, ETC.**

**YAY! I updated! Sorry for the wait. Busy week dealing with surprise b-day parties (thanks again Robin! I can't believe you actually pulled it off!) and drivers ed—YUCK! But I did update, finally. So you know who the Mithros' Mercenaries are now. And by the way—Jay is not, was not, and will never be heir to the throne and/or King of Tortall (unless many, many, many people die)! Just thought you ought to know.**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006)**


	5. Wife and Healer

Jay and Emma's conversation had been cut short by a patrol arriving back from circling the outer regions of the camp.

Jay stepped out of the way quickly as the group came back on horseback, all wearing at least some color of red on their clothing. The horses looked a little tired and warn out but still in good shape. Jay could tell that they were quality horses. Where they had gotten them was a mystery to him like everything else about these people.

Their conversation hadn't been cut short enough, however, for Emma not to notice the bump, that by this point could pass as a small hill if Jay lied face down in the dirt, on the back of Jay's head.

Jay had forgotten about the bump until just then, and when he tried to pass it off as nothing, Emma gently laid her fingers on it, giving Jay away instantly as he let out a squeal of pain, getting some laughs from the men and women from the patrol.

Emma then sent Bubba to direct Jay through the sea of camps to one of the few healers among the Mithros' Mercenaries. The camp was even bigger from the inside, he noted. There were just so many tents that it baffled him. Peering in ones with open flaps he saw that they seemed like miniature homes that could probably fold up within minutes if they needed to.

Upon arriving at the healer's tent, Jay was directed in and ordered to wait there until the healer arrived. He watched Bubba disappear out the flap again before finally letting out a small sigh.

Jay sat down on a stool and surveyed the tent. It was plain and could fit maybe six people comfortably. It looked only to house about three at the moment. Jay could tell this from the number of bedrolls around the floor of the tent. Besides that there were weapons kits, food supplies, a few clothes here and there, and some other herbs that Jay knew to be for healing. A small smile crossed his lips seeing a little doll.

Jay's thoughts were interrupted by someone else entering the tent.

"YOU!" was the startled and angry shout that came from Prewt as he entered his tent. "WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' IN ME TENT!" He roared.

Jay's face went blank, his eyes widening in horror. Was this some sick trick they had played on him? Showing him to Prewt's tent instead of the healer's? Great.

He stood up quickly and raised his arms in his own defense. He was about to speak on his own behalf when a woman entered the tent behind Prewt.

"Oh, shush! 'E's one of mine!"

The woman walked towards Jay and motioned for him to sit once more. Jay cast one weary glance at Prewt, who stood stiffly on guard, arms crossed over his chest, by the tent entrance, before sitting once more on the stool a little nervously. Prewt seemed so upset by having to tend the stock, Jay wouldn't put it past him to try something funny.

His attention was brought back to who he assumed was the healer. The woman was very tall. She stood about three inches taller than Prewt and was wearing red, leather armor. Her hair was frizzy and an orange color. She seemed to him a very strong woman. From the look of her, he wouldn't try to mess with her for five gold. Yet there was something about her. An air of kindness maybe. She stood behind Jay as she gently examined his head.

"I'm Nancy," she said, running her fingers over the back of Jay's head, making him wince. The pain got worse and the bump started to sting. All of a sudden, the pain dulled, though, and Jay could feel the swelling go down. "I don't think there is much damage. Just a bump. OH! Ye' be a lucky un'! Ay, Prewt! I remember that farmer—"

"OH! DON'T YA' GET INTA THAT AGAIN!"

Nancy chuckled. "Fine, darlin', fine." She walked back out in front of Jay again. "There was no concussions or fractures so it should be all better." Nancy grinned over at the moody Prewt and then turned back to Jay. "Hope me hubby didn't scare ya too much."

Jay's mouth gaped open in shock. She was married to that…that…Thing! In his eyes it didn't seem possible. She seemed so nice while he was just as sour as anyone he'd ever met. "He's your…" Jay felt Prewt's glare. "So, he's your husband." He sighed a bit, realizing he should be used to odd marriages by now.

Nancy chuckled a bit, as Jay stood up. "Yes and fine man he is. Now ye go get yourself settled. Go on! Out with ya!" she said, waving him out of the tent.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Tortall. I own some characters and the concept for the Mithros' Mercenaries but not Mithros himself.**

**So…how'd ya like it? Yeah, all talkady talk, I know I know.**

**Thank you to my darling reviewers! You make my day!**

**And one hint, 'Jay' is not really mentioned in any of the books. He is kinda mentioned but not straight out by name. You can find his true name in the character section of one of the Protector of the Small books, not sure which one, under the name: Jas—woops! I said too much. (hehehe) But if you can't figure it out, ask yourself, "Which family is known for black hair and blue—sapphire—eyes?"**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006)**


	6. Everyone Has A Background

Jay woke with a start and pulled his dagger out from underneath his bedroll. He jumped to his feet, dagger in hand, and pointed it at a startled looking Van, who stood in the doorway of their tent.

Jay lowered his blade with a small sigh. It was only Van. You could never be too sure with these mercenaries, he thought to himself on particular one coming to mind. "Sorry," he said quietly. "I just thought--"

"What did ye' think?" Maverick asked from his own bedroll. Jay hadn't realized he was awake and leaning up on his elbow lazily. Since three days ago, when Jay had first stumbled upon the Mercenaries, he had shared a tent with Van and Maverick. Apparently their old roommate if you would, had left the band for some reason. "Did ya just think that 'e was Prewt or somethin'?" Jay lowered his head a bit to hide his red cheeks. Maverick chuckled and rolled back over in his bedroll. "Both of ya go to sleep. We still gotta a few good hours of dark left and I intend to use 'em to the fullest."

Van cast a weary eye to Maverick then to Jay before finally doing as he was told and heading back to his bed roll.

Jay laid back down, but by the time he heard snores coming from the other two in the tent, he still couldn't find sleep. So Jay sat up, put on his boots, and headed for the tent opening. He'd always found when he had been younger, a walk would do him good if he couldn't sleep. No use just wasting time in the tent.

"Watcha back, Jay." Maverick said quietly from his bedroll. Jay rolled his eyes and walked out into the night.

Jay made his way through the sea of tents. Since he had been here he had been amazed by the fact that so many people could travel together without attracting little to no attention. Jay had asked Emma why they didn't break up into smaller groups to travel, but she explained that there were whole families in the Mithros' Mercenaries and she didn't want to be responsible for separating them.

"Besides," she had continued. "The mercenaries are already broken up into two smaller groups as is."

"What?" was Jay's confused reply.

"They're two bands of us. We're the bigger half. The other half is somewhere up near the Grimhold Mountain area. We're supposed to meet up with them in a month or so, probably around Golden Lake."

Jay swallowed his face flushing a bit out of nevousness. "G-Golden Lake you said?"

"Yeah," said Emma, casting Jay a funny look. "Why? Have any problems with Goldenlake folk?"

"No," Jay lied quickly, and changed the subject. "Who leads the other half of the Mercenaries?"

Emma took the hint and answered, "Price, Price Chase. He's third in command."

Jay had also been confused about why he had never heard of the group before now. Surely if a patrol from the army or the Own had found trace of a strange group of warriors wondering the countryside he would have heard about it.

Jay continued on his walk. Emma was a strange one, he thought. Jay did like her. He respected her as well. He thought it funny how a girl of barely fifteen could control people who were more than half her age. She just had the air of a leader. Having been around them most his life he knew a good one when he saw one. She was just like none he had seen before.

She's probably delusional, too, he thought to himself. She seems normal but than she says that Mithros leads them. How in the world could it be possible for a girl who says she leads a band of mercenaries lead by Mithros not to be off her rocker?

Jay walked into the trees. His hands moved up, pushing a few thin branches out of his way as he made his way slowly through the woods. A few minutes later he thought he heard voices. He continued on though until he thought he could make out Emma's voice and a male's voice as well. But then who was she talking to?

The voices ended abruptly when Jay snapped a twig with his boot and he was faced with the cold steal of Emma's sword.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"I like him." Emma told the large black man in front of her simply. She brought a hand up to her face, examining her finger nails closely. "Everyone does. I don't see why he's a problem."

The man rolled his eyes while pulling on his large, gold hoop earring. Any person just passing by would assume that this was Bubba. But there were a number of differences. One being this man was much taller than Bubba, and that was saying something. Another this man didn't have the same Bhazir accent as Bubba. "And you, my dear, only see the good in anyone. That's why you're always so easy to fool."

Emma leaned against a tree, crossed her arms over her chest, and rolled her eyes. "And you don't? Remember that bandit in Old Runeham?" The man just rolled his eyes as well. "Ah! So you do? Yes, the one who you wouldn't let us kill because he begged for mercy. Then what did he do? He went and tried to kill Han!"

The two seemed to be having a contest to see who could roll their eyes the most, because that's what the man did next. "Are you ever going to let me forget that?" the man said, giving Emma a stern look.

"Nope." Emma said matching his stern look with an innocent smile.

The man sighed. "Look," he said calmly. "There is stuff about this kid that you don't know. He's got a backround--"

"So?" Emma cut in. "So don't I. So hasn't just about everyone in the Mercenaries. Why does one person make so much of a difference?"

The man opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak Emma said, "He is also a mage." The man closed his mouth. "You know how badly we need one. We haven't had one in the Mercenaries since Larael left."

The man shook his head as if he was trying to think. After a while he finally just gave in. "If you're sure."

Emma nodded.

"You're going to regret this." the man said evenly.

Emma gave him a questioning look. "What are you talking about?" The man looked down. The look on Emma's face was replaced with an irritated one. "What do you know that you're not telling me?" she demanded a little louder then she had intended.

"Sh!" The man opened his mouth to say something, but than---_crack!_

Emma whirled around and drew Keening. "Who's there!" she shouted into the night.

"It's just me!" someone said quickly.

"Jay?" Emma asked recognizing the voice. "What are you doing up this late?"

"Couldn't sleep." Jay answered simply coming into the open from behind a tree. "Thought I'd take a quick walk." He glanced around the clearing for a second, seeing there was no one there. That's odd, he thought making a face. Maybe he'd just been hearing things.

Emma was almost certain he was not lying. Certain of that she turned around to see if the man she had been talking to had left. He had.

"What are you looking at?" Jay asked curiously, coming up to stand next to her. Maybe she was looking for the person she'd been talking to. He decided to keep the fact that he had heard her talking quiet.

"Nothing. Just thought I'd heard something."

**Disclaimer--I will Never own Tortall---wait, not unless---no bad idea.**

**Anyways, before you yell at me for not reviewing let me tell you I have a number of lovely excuses. Drivers Permit test (which I passed with a 96 WITHOUT cheating thank you very much reviewers break into applause "Thank you! Thank you!) teeth infections shudders, last days of school, broken pottery finals, my own lazyness, writers block, computer hackers, getting sucked into the blue gooey thing (yes that did cause some problems) and a number of others that I don't feel like going on about right now.**

**Yes I know, this chapter is short but don't kill me! wails They do need to be longer and I agree fully with that! The next chapters will be longer and more interesting I swear! Any guess as to who "the man" Emma was talking to is? Well that's an easy one. But guess who maybe coming for a visit in one or two chapters? hint hint wink wink nudge nudge AND NO GIVING IT AWAY ROBIN!**

**So to my lovely reviewers:**

**Lady- Robin I know it's you by your offel spelling**

**Nottelling- righteyo**

**Flower Kid- Jay didn't steal anything, unless--NO! slaps self bad idea. Jay didn't steal anything**

**Mihaela- Jay isn't really either Alan or Kel prince. You would be closer I guess if you said Kel, but he isn't Roald**

**Cat'seyes- Yes, sighs longingly Morrowing is a great RPG. It makes me happy too. I taught you well Robin**

**Keeran Amytha- I'm sorry I can't tell you yet! Soon though, I promise. One or two chapter to go!**

**Kasey Rider- lol thanks for reviewing**

**Dragonshifter- sobs I know. I know. I will try in the next chapters, I just wanted to get this one out of the way**

**mycatcoco7- I'm sorry! I didn't review for a Missing crown! Oh, wait, did I...? Nevermind, sorry if I didn't. It is still wicked hillarious though! Superman and Batman add such a lovely touch**

**buttons7- I know what you mean about the prince thing. It seams to me that Tamora only used them to reinforce Wyldons character a little bit. I liked your story. It was soooo weird and kinda creepy. But I still like it.**

**Sqath101- raises fist into the air enthusiastlicaly GIRLS ARE MUCH BETTER THAN MALES! We should take over the world together and keep men under ground and souley use them for breeding! grins evily**

**I LOVE YOU GUYS!**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006)**


	7. Stay or Go

Jay woke in the morning to a sharp, pointy object poking into his side. He let out a small groan, half his mind feeling worried that bandits had attacked the camp and now one was holding a sword to his side while the other half could really care less as long as they let him keep sleeping.

He had only been back in his tent for about an hour before the sun came up and you could see it glowing dimly on the horizon. By the time he had gotten into his tent Van and Maverick were already getting ready for the day.

"And where might you 'av been?" Maverick asked teasingly.

"A walk." Jay said simply before covering a yawn. He made his way over to his bedroll, sat down, and started to pull of his boots.

"I'll bet 'e was with Em'." Van said slyly to Maverick pretending to try and whisper.

"Oh put a sock in it!" Jay ordered before rolling into his bedroll. "And wake me in an hour or so," Jay said before falling asleep.

Maverick and Van just shrugged at each other and then left the tent.

Jay sat up quickly, deciding it would probably be better if it was actually bandits. All he saw though was a little boy standing over him with a wooden sword in hand and fake crown on his head.

"S-sorry, sir." The little boy stuttered as Jay tried to sit up properly. "V-van just a-asked me t-to get you u-up."

"It's ok." Jay said reaching for his boots, not surprised Van was too lazy to get him up himself. He nodded to the boy's crown. "Playing dress-up?"

The little boy nodded proudly and thumped a fist onto his chest. "I-I get t-to b-be King J-Jonathan!" Jay laughed a wide smile coming onto his lips and the boy's face fell a little. "I-I normally d-don't g-get to b-be the k-king. I-It's b-because I s-stutter."

Jay frowned a little. He'd never been one for teasing. Having been picked on for being a thumb sucker until he was nine, he resented kids who tease others for fun. To him it was just down right annoying.

"What's your name?"

"T-theodotus N-niall." The boy said seriously. "B-but i-its just T-theo. T-Theodotus i-is t-too l-long."

Jay smiled and got to his feet. "Well you know what, Theo?"

"W-what?"

Jay leaned down secretively and whispered, "I have it on good authority that the king stutters slightly when he's nervous."

Theo's face lit up. "R-really?"

Jay nodded, tucking away a smile and straightened up. "But let that just be our little secret."

Theo nodded and almost ran out of the tent. Jay couldn't help but let out a small laugh, glad he could inflate the little boy's ego just a bit.

Jay walked out of the tent a few minutes later, his boots on and feeling very ready for a nice camp breakfast of bacon and oat cakes only to run into Van and Maverick coming back into the tent.

"Got all your stuff out of there?" Maverick asked a confused looking Jay.

"What?" Jay asked following them back into the tent. Maverick and Van were already leaning over gathering all of their things and putting them into saddlebags. Jay stared at them dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open a bit as he just stood there staring at them. "Where are you going?"

"We're leavin'." Van said simply, rolling up his bedroll. "Em's been mutterin to 'erself all mornin'."

Jay sat there waiting for more of an explanation. They didn't seem to notice how bad of a reason that was as they just kept going on with their packing. When he didn't get a better explanation he asked, "And that is supposed to mean-?"

"It means we're leavin'." Maverick said making his way to the entrance of the tent. "Pack your stuff. Emma wants a word when you're done." And with that both Maverick and Van left the tent. Bedrolls under one arm, saddle bags under the other.

Jay packed his stuff as quickly as possible. It didn't take very long. He hadn't had much to begin with when he first came upon the mercenaries and he hadn't gathered any more.

He walked out of the tent once more, to meet Van and Maverick. This time they were making their way around he tent collecting spikes from around the outside.

"'Bout time." Van said over the bussle of the camp. By this point most everyone was collapsing tents or tying bags to pack horses. "We were about to collapse the tent on ya'!"

Jay rolled his eyes and asked Maverick, "Where's Emma?"

Maverick finished pulling a spike out of the ground and looked at Jay. "I think she's down by the river. Careful not to surprise 'er though, or she might just cut off y'ur head." Van and Maverick both laughed.

Jay just rolled his eyes and made his way to the river. It took some time, because he had to carefully weave his way in and out of the tents that were falling to the ground everywhere.

Finally Jay spotted Emma sitting on a rock by the water a little way away from camp, eyes squinted in concentration. Jay could see that her mouth was opening forming words that weren't coming out.

Jay moved closer slowly, heeding Mavericks advice. If he had learned one thing about Emma, it was that she was not a woman to be trifled with.

"Emma?" Jay asked quietly. When she made no reply, he cleared his throat and said louder, "Emma?"

Emma gave a start and whipped around. "What?" she asked a little harshly as if he had interrupted her while she was having a very important conversation.

Jay winced. He heard the irritable note in her voice. "Maverick said you wanted a word."

Emma's face softened. "Oh, that's right." She jumped down from her rock and walked up to Jay. She stopped about a foot in font of him and put her hands on her hips. "Are you coming or not?"

Jay was taken aback. "What?" He seemed to be asking that a lot this morning. He stared down at her, his face starting to flush again as she stepped a little close to him. "What do you mean 'Am I coming'?"

Emma rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you coming with us when we leave or not?"

"Oh," Jay said quietly. He had thought about whether he would stay or not, but he hadn't come fully to a decision. He still wanted to leave Tortall and from what he had heard, he may not be doing that anytime soon if he stayed with the mercenaries. But then again maybe they could use his help and he their's.

Emma was getting impatient. She tapped her foot on the ground waiting for his answer. Either he was coming or not. "Well?"

"Um," Jay had to think. If he were smart he would leave the group and make for the Tusaine border. But what if he stayed? Like the crown would suspect him going in with a group of mercenaries!

Emma continued to tap her foot.

"Well, I guess I could--"

"Excellent." Emma cut in smiling widely. "We could use you. We haven't had a mage in months. Go to Bile. He'll give you a horse since we couldn't find your other one. Mount up and meet with the others at the trail." And with that Emma disappeared back into the camp. Jay just shook his head and went off to find Bile.

Jay found Bile in a rushed mood over by the makeshift paddock used for spare horses. His white hair was all in a mess, sticking up at odd angles with bits of hay in it.

"Why does she always do this to me?" Bile asked no one in particular. "Always a last minute pack up and who's gotta find spare mounts?"

Jay just stood quietly waiting for Bile to find him a horse. He didn't think that was exactly a question.

"Here ya go." Bile said leading a butterscotch colored mare over to him. "She's a young one so you best take care. She can be kinda skittish."

Jay strapped his saddlebag and bedroll to the back of the mare and mounted up, giving a small nod of thanks to Bile. He rode over to where everyone else was waiting for the signal to get going. There were a few stragglers who were still trying to get tents unpitched, but for the most part, almost everyone was ready to go.

"God they're quick…" he said to himself, staring around with his mouth hanging open only slightly.

"Oi! Jay!"

Jay turned and saw Maverick making his way over to him through the crowd. When he got there he clapped Jay on the leg from the ground. "So I hear you're stayin."

Jay nodded. "It's not like I have anything better to do. And Emma tells me you guys need a mage."

"Well, don't make us sound desperate." Maverick said as he mounted his horse. "Em' wants you in the front." Jay nodded as he made his way back through the crowd to the front of the line of horses.

As they got closer to the front, Jay could see a group of a few people sitting on their mounts mostly to a separate side from the rest of the crowd. Maverick made his way over to the group and Jay followed. Soon they were greeted by a smiling Nancy, and stern looking Bubba, and a grumpy Prewt who glared fiercely at Jay who pretended not to notice.

Emma was there as well. She was mostly in the same state as when Jay had found her this morning. Eyes squinting, mouth moving inaudibly. Finally she hissed under her breath, "You better be right about this." And looked up at the group around her.

"Where to, love?" Nancy asked sweetly.

Emma sighed, "Yellowfax." Emma turned her horse to the trail and called out over the crowd, "MOVE OUT!"

**So there ya go. It may not be any longer than the other ones but it's still there.**

**DISCLAIMER--Unless I come up with some brilliant plan to steal the Tortallan empire I do not own a thing. I wouldn't do that anyways.**

**So thank you to a number of people. Thank you to BEHIND THE NAME name generator and RANDOM TOWN NAME generator. Gods I would be lost without those.**

**Jturtle - This may be longer I can't tell but I'm trying!**

**And you guys are getting better, most of you guessed that the guy Em' was talking to was Mithros. Did I just say that? Whatever, not a big secret.**

**Thank you Robin for the glaive, it's lovely. Try not to die at White River though. If you do I'll never speak to you again! And stop dropping hints!**

**(UPDATED: May 25, 2006)**


	8. An Errand

"So he's…disappeared?"

"That's one theory. Another says he's runaway, another that he was kidnapped. One even says both."

Keladry of Mindelan couldn't help but let a small smile slip as she saw the grimace on Lord Raoul's face. Silence followed as the knight answered the man who was once called her Knight Master. Now she could barely get away with calling him 'sir', but that wasn't what was being discussed now. She'd known he wouldn't be very happy about this. Who would? But it wasn't only the fact that Prince Jasson of Conte was missing that had the man's face contorted. It'd only been a few months since his wedding. This new crisis would surely cut short his honeymoon.

"Why couldn't he wait another month?" Raoul groaned, his big hand rubbing his face as he set the letter from the king down onto his desk. The little smile on Kel's face spread until she quickly cleared her throat to cover it up. The entire court knew that his leave was up in only a month, but the entire court was also waiting for him to be called back to the Capital after the news of the Prince's disappearance had spread like hushed wildfire throughout the palace. "So when does his Majesty expect me to come running to his side?"

Kel quickly cleared her throat as she heard the question, sitting up a little straighter in her chair. "He doesn't."

Silence fell upon the two again as Raoul stared at his old squire like she was growing a second head. "Doesn't what?"

"He doesn't expect you back in Corus, sir. Your leave isn't up for another month," Kel reminded him, trying her best to hide another smirk now as she watched the dumbfounded look cross his face. They both knew things weren't as simple as that. The king would not have sent the lady knight to personally deliver the news of the crisis to Raoul unless there was an order involved. Otherwise, he could have waited until his leave was up before sending the message.

Folding his hands on the desk, Raoul leaned forward, his eyes narrowing at Kel. "And the catch is…?"

Sighing, Kel shifted in her chair again, folding her hands neatly in her lap as she stared the man straight in the eye. "His majesty is sending you on an errand, sir."

"An…errand?" When his question was answered with only a nod, Raoul groaned once more and sat back in his chair. "Explain," he ordered absently.

"Well," the lady knight started, taking a deep breath. "The day after the prince was reported missing, a horse merchant in Corus admitted he sold a lame mare to someone who, he said, could have resembled a member of the royal family. A week later, two weeks ago, a horse like the one described was found a mile away from the Drell River by an army patrol. That same day, the patrol interviewed a farmer who complained of being harassed by a group of mercenaries. He said they accused him of being a horse thief, hit him over the head, dragged him nearly two miles from his house before the group realized that they had the wrong man."

Kel stopped and raised an eyebrow as she heard Raoul let out a loud snort. It took a second for him to clear his throat and wave his hand at her. "Go on."

"Other farmers and residents in the area were questioned," Kel continued after letting out a small sigh. "The army patrol wanted to know if, besides the group who tried kidnapping the farmer, there was any strangers who'd passed through. Anyone who hadn't been seen in the area before."

"They wanted to know if the prince had been through the area," Raoul interrupted again, saying it quietly and more to himself.

Simply nodding, Kel went on. "Most said no. A few mentioned a rider with a black cloak had passed through without stopping. The horse he rode was described as the same one that the Corus merchant had sold and the same that had been found by the river."

Realization suddenly came to the commander's face, nodding his head as he sat up a little straighter, leaning on his desk once more. A black cloaked rider, on the same horse that the prince had supposedly bought in the capital. If that wasn't an arrow pointing straight at the prince, he didn't know what was. "Did that patrol try to track down the group that harassed the farmer? If they were searching for a horse thief in the area, it's possible that they could have come in contact with the strange rider."

"Yes, the patrol did try to find the group, but all they were able to find was a large, abandoned camp site. The camp was big enough to hold a few hundred, but the patrol was not able to track them down."

Raoul let out a loud swear underneath his breath, but Kel quickly cut him off before he could speak. "There was word a week ago of a large group of people who called themselves mercenaries, camped just outside of Yellowfax. The townsfolk didn't complain, but reported that the group had helped them with a wildfire that had started outside the town, threatening the town's stores of grain. Messengers had been sent to the army for help, but the group got there first. They supposedly appeared, helped to put out the fire and then kept to themselves on the outskirts of town."

A short quiet fell upon the two as Kel finished and Raoul sat in thought. If this was as she'd said, that the group was in Yellowfax and could have some knowledge of the whereabouts of the prince…

"Yellowfax is only a two days ride from here," Raoul told Kel absently, but he blank face showed no hint of surprise.

"Yes, sir."

Another loud groan followed the answer and then, "So this is the errand? The king would like me to go and clear up some rumors with these mercenaries?"

"Yes, sir," Kel repeated. "Throw some royal weight and authority around, as his majesty put it."

The two shared a silence once more and a small smirk before Kel followed Raoul to stand up. "Then we'll leave in the morning. I'm sure Buri will be very pleased to hear about this."


	9. Communication

"Where are you from?"

It was an innocent enough of a question. It was one that could easily be disguised as just a topic starter in a conversation between acquaintances. That's what they were, after all. Emma knew so little about the boy feet away from her that she couldn't help but be curious. To most, it seemed like she rarely showed human emotions. Even curiosity. So rare an occasion it was, that it even shocked her a little. But she wouldn't let her own shock that she was so drawn to this boy get in the way of her rare curiosity. She wanted to know more about him, and she would find out more whether he liked it or not.

"What village are you from? How old are you? Do you have any family? Are you even from Tortall originally, or are you from Tusaine? Scanra, maybe? You have the blue eyes of a Scanran. Or perhaps you are from Tortall. Then what were you leaving for?"

Most likely it would be not.

Jay sat calmly on a fallen and charred tree trunk. Even with the barrage of questions, his mind hadn't wavered from the task at hand. The wisps of blue gift that flowed from his hand into the gold locket it held didn't falter once. He was far used to that type of questioning, both from the past few years of being forced to attend social events, as well as the training in interrogation he'd been pushed to undertake before his visit to the Scanra border during the war years back. It hadn't been his father's idea to go in the first place, but if Jay was set on it, then his spymasters were not going to be worried a Tortallan secret would slip from the torture of a kidnapped prince.

Oh, how his father would be thanking Mithros for the training now.

He wouldn't pretend to hide his surprise, however, that Emma suddenly seemed to take interest in him. Was she trying to get him to slip something? Was she catching on? No. Of course not. His eyes lifted slowly off the bobble in his hand to glance up at her only to have his sapphire eyes met by peculiar multi colored ones. At that moment, all hope of keeping his concentration on spelling the locket was lost. It was going to be used as a way of communication, along with a number of other useless pieces of nick knacks, between Emma and the other mercenaries. It had taken him the entire hour to get it nearly finished. Now he'd have to start all over.

A swear escaped his lips and the grimace tore at his features as his eyes finally stole away from Emma's. "And you say you haven't got the gift," he tutted in annoyance. With eyes like that, no it wasn't even the eyes themselves, but that stare. "I'm starting to wonder if you haven't got everyone in this camp under a spell, including me."

Emma's gaze did not leave him. In fact, it caught everything, from the cautious way he moved the delicate chain between his long fingers, to the way his black hair fell into his eyes. Squashing the desire to reach her hand out and push it back for him, she instead settled herself to wondering. It wasn't a good thing for a girl in her position to do, especially not about something so trivial. She had in her care hundreds of able-bodied mercenaries. They were doing the work of gods. Yet here she was, sitting in the dirt and pondering whether or not Jay's hands were soft or callused.

What was the world coming to?

"If I had the gift, I surely would have bewitched you into answering my questions by now," Emma said, adding an impatient sigh as she pretended to turn her gaze away from him. She turned herself to examining the small piece of dirt underneath her fingernail, hoping to make him more comfortable. Again, she would learn more about him whether he wanted to tell or not. "I can wait all night, you know."

"I don't doubt it." That was the honest truth. Chuckling under his breath, Jay spun the chain around one of his fingers, no longer worrying whether or not he had broken the spell. He would fix that another time, perhaps tomorrow. Even if he had spent two years at the University, they'd been short years, and he wasn't much good without perfect concentration. It was much better then the mercenaries had seen in months, but the constant gaze of Emma did nothing to help his mediocre skills.

Sighing himself, he stole a glance up at her before his eyes returned to the locket without really seeing it. His mind was now too busy elsewhere. How to answer her? What to answer her with? The truth would have been nice, if he hadn't been worried of being found out. Half the truth was better then none, of course, so he would have to stick to that for now.

"I'm not from a village, I'm from Corus. I'm nineteen years old. I do have family, two brothers, three sisters, a niece, and another on the way. Yes, I'm originally from Tortall. I was leaving because, well…that's complicated."

"We've got all night," was the simple response that drew another sigh from Jay's lips.

The two sat in silence for a moment, half listening to the sounds the few mercenaries remaining awake, who insisted upon singing tavern songs into the middle of the night. Finally, he answered, "My father. We had…different opinions on what I should be doing with my life. I thought it was best to forge my own path for a while. Away from him."

It was more honest then he knew he should be, but less honest then he found himself wanting to be. Life was full of compromises. He couldn't be more honest without letting himself slip, and he couldn't be less honest without her wanting to pry.

It was a long time before either of them spoke again. The sounds of singing had died away from the sea of tents, and even the smoke that had once drifted up to show some sign of life was gone. It was just them now. The stars gave enough light for him to see her form, to see her finger picking at a spot in her worn, brown breeches, and for her to see his hand twirling and untwirling the chain around his boney finger.

"Does he love you?" The question was sudden, random maybe, and she could tell by the way he jumped that it caught him off guard. She could also tell by the way it took him nearly a minutes to answer, that it was a question he must not have asked himself before. Had she stirred some inner turmoil in the black haired boy, wait, man? The thought pleased her for a mere second, but the joy at seeing him squirm was gone the second she heard an answer she didn't expect.

"Yes," Jay said quietly, a shrug in his voice that she caught only seconds later in his shoulders. "Yes, I think he does. He just has strange ways of showing it. It doesn't stop him from acting like a giant pile of griffin dung at times, but I suppose he wouldn't sell me off into slavery, either."

Emma was still seeming to Jay is if she was in deep thought, which she was, but if he'd tried to guess what she was thinking about, he would have been wrong. The last conversation with Mitros had come to her mind as she listened to Jay's short version of his troubles. What had Mithros been so worried about? _Things about this kid you don't know… _The words rang in her ears as if they'd just been said. Why would such a fuss be made over a son who'd had a dispute with his father? He was perhaps a merchant's son, not wanting to take over the business, nothing more. But then maybe…there must be more to him then meets the eyes. Nodding her head, she firmly stuck it as her decision. In good time, she told herself as she suddenly pushed herself up to her feet. She'd find out the story about this boy sooner or later. All in good time.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It took Jay another two days before the rest for the communication charms were complete. A leather thong with some sort of animal bone went to Bubba, a regular pregnancy charm that any healer might have went to Nancy, an old, rusted key for Maverick, and an unpolished blue gem on a cord for himself. As their mage, Emma had demanded he have one. The gold locket, Jay made specifically for Emma.

"Could you take this to Emma for me? Nancy asked me to go on a patrol with her."

Van caught the necklace in his hand and stared up at Jay with a sort of curious confusion. It didn't take Jay a second to realize asking Van to give Emma a piece of jewelry from him might not have been such a good idea. It had only been an hour ago they'd had a conversation about the 'strange amount of time the two had been spending together'. Now, it was surely only going to make it look as if it was a token from one lover to another. Joy.

"Don't give me that look. It's a spell. Nothing more."

"Oh, of course. Just a spell," Van mimicked, obviously not convinced. Last time Jay'd been around sane people, it seemed that a spell was something more then a lover's token, but not with these mercenaries. They acted as if gossip was the highlight of their day, even after narrowly avoided a spindren attack. It completely baffled him.

Nonetheless, however, things still needed to get done. Emma still needed her talisman; Nancy still needed him for her patrol. Both young men went their separate ways, Van off to find Emma, the spell spinning around his finger, and Jay off to find his horse. He would leave just in the knick of time, only narrowly missing the real excitement that would keep the gossipers of mercenaries busy for weeks on end if not more.


	10. Atmosphere of Confusion

Emma's fingers fiddled with the locket around her neck. In the short time she'd had it, not even an hour, she was starting to become rather fond of it. The cool chain felt nice around her neck and it gave her something to play with when she thought. More then anything, though, she loved being able to call up Maverick at any random moment just to bug him, which she had done at least ten times in the past five minutes.

He was not as easily amused by it as Emma was. After the twelfth reminder that he needed to clean his ears out, he yelled at her through his key so loud, that she could hear him both through her locket and from the other side of the camp. It was a good form of entertainment, if nothing else. She'd been sure it would be useful, but she never even thought she would put it to good use so soon.

It was midday in the camp they had made just outside Yellowfax. Nancy's patrol with a few townsfolk was still not back yet, and Emma didn't expect them back for another few hours. They'd gone with a few of the village folks to check what damage the fire had done to the surrounding forest. Another group of mercenaries was out, trying to rebuild a grain store that had burned. Thankfully, it was only one of the few that were destroyed.

For those remaining at the camp, it was lunchtime. Some made their own fires outside of their tens, while most of the children crowded around the already grumpy Prewt, waiting for him to finish their pheasant stew. He grumbled while cutting up spare potatoes. It was obvious to tell he wasn't taking a liking to his new job of watching the stock, nor his job of watching the little ones while their mothers got to go off and patrol.

As for Emma, she contented herself with her back against Bubba's. Her fingers let go of her locket for just enough time to pop another small piece of bread into her mouth. It was a lazy day. Now that the fire was out and most of the damage were being repaired, she found herself with nothing to do but sit aside. She was terribly bored, of course, but she was confidant Mithros wouldn't leave her to sit around idly for long. They were supposed to be meeting their other half around these parts in not too long, and that only meant one thing: another mission of some kind. Well, at least she could hope.

"EMMA! MISS EMMA!" came the yells that tore her out of her thoughts. Her fingers dropped once more from her necklace as she pushed herself to her feet. It was a little boy she didn't recognize as one of her own, but as one of the village's, who found her fastest. A number of other village children came sprinting along behind, looking disappointed that the boy had been the first to reach her. "The mayor wants to see you in town right away!" the boy spat out between gasps for air.

"There are knights here to see you! Even the lady knight! Not the Lioness, but the other one! They've come with the Own! They say to hurry! It's very important!" chimed in a number of other voices as mercenaries started to gather round the group of children that was already blocking Emma's way. Their startled and confused faces barely mimicked their commander's own placid one. While they started to barrage her with worries and questions, she calmly brushed the dirt from her breeches and pushed her hair back from her face. Though, her head did betray her calm persona slightly. Knights, she couldn't help but wonder. What in the Mother's name did they want to do with a plain group of mercenaries? They'd done nothing wrong. Unless…

Gently breaking herself away from the group, Emma stuck her shoulders back as she started her way towards town, Bubba and the group of children now joined by some of the mercenaries own, hot on her heels. As she passed the center fire towards the end of the sea of tents, her finger pointed at Prewt sternly, a silent message of 'If this is about that farmer, I'll have your head'. He read it clearly and gulped.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Raoul was only barely able to hide his surprise. By coughing into his hand as the door opened, he was able to come off as simply having choked on his cider, unlike Dom who seemed as if he honestly had. The only one of the three who was able to keep a straight face was Kel. Her yamini mask easily slid into place, but she did let herself looked mildly surprised.

After two days of easy riding, an hour or so of talk with the mayor about last weeks fires, and yet another hour of waiting to meet with the commanders of the mercenary group, they now found themselves sitting dumbfounded, staring at what looked like a young girl and a Bazhir who might have even been taller then the King's Own commander. Was this some kind of joke? They couldn't be the one's in charge, of course, Raoul quickly assured himself as he took back his composure. The tribesman must be in command, obviously. Or otherwise they were representatives. Yes, that was it.

"Ah, yes. My lord, this is Emma Kroft and…" the mayor started to introduce, but he seemed lost for a name when it came to the near giant. This blew Raoul's earlier theory of the man being in charge out of site. The girl…No. Surely, Tortall had made progress with women in the past decade, but this girl was barely sixteen. Representatives it was then.

"Bubba," the girl offered absently as her eyes looked from one stranger to the next.

"Of course. Emma, this is Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, Sergeant Dominic of Masbolle, and Lady Keladry of Mindelan."

Now would be the point where Emma was expected to bow, at least her head. None of those seated realized it until, well, it didn't happen. Even the mayor seemed surprised as the girl simply smiled politely, clasping her hands in front of her. No bow. No 'it's an honor, my lord'. Not even so much as a 'sir'. A round of bewildered blinks followed as more confusion was thrown into the already confused atmosphere of the room. Did she not know who they were? They were far from being conceited, but it was just commonplace. Most commoners knew at least slightly how to approach a noble…

"You wanted to see me," were the words that finally came from her mouth.

Clearing her throat gently, Kel sat up in her chair. "Actually, we asked to speak with your commander. Is he or she busy, perhaps?"

The gaze Emma watched the woman with was one of slight amusement. Her smile twitched and Bubba had to clear his own throat to hide a slight laugh, while the confusion became close to suffocating for the three nobles.

"Yes, I dare say he is," Emma answered in full seriousness.

"Emma is the commander of the mercenaries, my lady," the mayor made clear, but it was not long before he was corrected himself.

"Second in command."

"Second…?" they started their question in unison, voices blending together as they stole glances at each other, silently wondering if anyone else got what in Mithros' name was going on here. Before they could even finish their inquiry, the mayor interrupted. He was far more used to the strange answers this girl had to the most common questions, that he was prepared to leave and let these nobles take their stab at her.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then." With a bow, he excused himself from the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Have a seat, miss. And you as well…"

"I'd prefer to stand," Bubba replied in a low voice as he pulled a chair out for Emma. She sat down with a quiet 'thank you' and a smile to her friend before turning to fold her hands neatly on the table in front of her. The image of the young girl sitting across from them both amused and surprised the three. She seemed so young, so innocent. Yet at the same time, there was an air of confidence about her that seemed like a warning to push away any sarcastic thoughts or comments before they came. She didn't seem like the type to take them. They could almost picture her as a squire or a rider, but a commander? She seemed far too young for that.

"You wanted to speak with me?"

It was a question, but it was more directed as a conversation starter. Her steady gaze met theirs without a hint of fear or meekness. In fact, she gave the impression of impatience, as if she had much more important things to do then speak with a commander of the King's Own and a knight of the realm.

"Yes, of course," started Raoul. "I assume you are aware of a certain farmer that some of your men came into contact with. About a fortnight ago, I believe?"

The scowl lasted on her face for about a half a second, following the grumbling of a name that the knight commander missed.

"Excuse me?"

"It was a mistake," she said with a small sigh, sitting back in her chair. "One of my men got a little club happy while they were supposed to be looking for a horse thief. I sincerely apologized myself for the accident. We gave the farmer a horse for his trouble."

"Yes, he told that to a patrol from the army about a week ago. Don't worry. It's not the farmer we've come to talk to you about. It's another man we're looking for. Reports say he was riding on the Great Road East and was last seen about a mile from the border crossing into Tusaine. He was wearing a black cloak, riding a gray mare. The horse was found by the river. The man, however, we haven't found."

The cool demeanor of Emma's face gave nothing away of the shock she was feeling inside, suddenly wondering if taking Jay with them was something she would regret, after all. It was Jay they were talking about, of course. He'd been wearing a black cloak the day they'd mistaken him as a thief. They'd only attacked him about a mile from the Drell River. Now here she was being questioned by a man who was one of the highest authorities in the country.

_Damn you, Mithros!_ She cursed him in her head, only to be rewarded with a distinct chuckle running through her ears. Somewhere in the realm of the gods, she knew he was definitely laughing at her.

"And?"

"And, do you know the whereabouts of this man, miss?"

Hm. Now that was a tricky question. Could she lie, risk treason and possible death if they did somehow find Jay amongst her men, or could she tell them the truth and give up Jay to face punishment? For he must have done something if he had knights on his tail. He did seem like an okay sort of fellow, an understatement in her mind, but still. Could he really have done something so bad? Perhaps he'd just stolen some money from a noble. Yes, that was it. Whatever it was, she was sure she could get it out of him later. Better to cover it up instead of risking one man's life and a mage they desperately needed. If it turned out that he had actually done something bad, killing a child for instance, he could always be disposed of later.

"As I recall, we did question a man on the road when we were in hill country a few weeks past. We let him go on his way, though. Gave him a good horse, a better one then the lame one he had. We haven't seen the man since."

They weren't buying it. She could see it from the look on their faces and the glances they made at one another.

"Do you know what direction he went in or where he was headed?" Dom asked.

"Do you honestly think, with the bump we left on his head and all, he'd be willing to discuss his travel plans with us?" she answered, giving him a look as if the answer would be completely obvious to anyone with a brain.

Letting the information sink into his brain so he could analyze it, Raoul kept a steady gaze on this Emma. One big hand held the cup of cider he'd been first offered as he thought. There must be more she wasn't telling him. There had to be. For a child who was smart enough to gain control over hundreds of people, she certainly had to remember more then what she was saying. Though, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get it out of her.

"If that's all you know," he said finally with a disappointed sigh. He was already cringing with the thought of having to face Jon when his son was missing, but he was just thankful that he wouldn't be the one to go back to the king with so little information. "If you or any of your men remember anything, we'll be staying for the night. I hope you'll let us know."

Emma knew it wasn't a request, but an order. Never being one to take orders, though, she got to her feet, bowing her head a little late. "Of course," she said, without any intention of doing so.

Bubba opened the door for her and her foot was nearly across the threshold before she thought to ask. Turning, she raised a slender eyebrow. "If I may ask, why is this black haired man so important?"

They froze at her question, all three trying to think of the best answer. It was Kel who recovered first, giving Emma a diplomatic smile as she answered vaguely, "The royal family has a great interest in him."

For a second, she didn't move. Finally, though, she nodded and with that, disappeared through the door. So it would seem, Jay did have problems with Goldenlake people, after all.

As the door clicked shut behind her and her footsteps disappeared out of the tavern, the three sat in silence. Not for long, however, as Dom was the first to speak.

"And I though Wyldon was mental when he made you commander of Haven."

Raoul snorted, but there was still something his mind was thinking about furiously. As Dom looked between him and Kel, it was easy to tell that the lady knight had the same thought as well. Had he missed something, he wondered, waiting for someone to enlighten him.

"Did we ever…"

"No, sir."

"Did we what?"

In the short silence that followed Dom's impatient question, Raoul took the time to smirk at his old squire, their theory of the girl knowing more then she let on proven to both.

"We never once said he had black hair."


	11. Sullivan

The patrol, so far, had been going good, for the most part. There had been a disagreement with one of the village men about letting a woman lead the patrol, but it didn't last long. Especially not after Nancy told him to put his few gold nobles where his mouth was and threatened him to a dual to sort out their differences. After encouraging from his friends to step down, the man stopped his whining and the patrol went off without a hitch.

That damage to the forest was minimal, well, to an extent. Nearly a few hundred acres had been burned, but it was nothing compared to what was in danger of being destroyed. If the mercenaries hadn't showed up when they had, the chances of containing the fire would have been slim to none and the village would have had to wait for the fire to put out itself. That would have meant threatening the stores of food, the fields, and even parts of the town. If they had waited, there was no way the town would have been able to make it through the winter without the generosity of other towns or the monarchs. Even then, it would have still been a struggle.

They'd been in the forest, checking for new planet growth or still areas where there was burning, for about three hours. All of them were covered in a layer of sot and ash, but it was the smell of smoke that would still linger on their clothes, not that many had managed to get it out in the days following the fire.

Jay heard it as he was turning his horse around. They were done. Everything they needed to see, they had seen. It was time to go home and start the long task of getting clean again. Even Jay was smiling at the thought of somewhat clean clothes and perhaps a bit of food, since they had missed lunch. At first it sounded as if someone was whispering something behind him, but when he looked, he saw he was in fact behind the rest of the group. Was he hearing things…And then, very loudly, it came to him:

"_JAY!"_

And he became a very good acquaintance with the ground.

"Jay? What'd you fall of your horse for?" Nancy asked, concern in her voice as she stopped her horse to peer at Jay with worry. She still couldn't hide her slight smile, though, but she was doing a better job then the rest who'd dissolved into laughter at the site of him suddenly on the ground.

"I wanted to see how the soft branch felt on my back," he answered sarcastically, grabbing a hold of his saddle to pull himself to his feet, but then he heard it again.

"_Jay! You better answer me this second or I will hang you before Jonathon of Conte can even get his hands on…"_

Quickly grasping the stone around his neck, he mentally hit himself. Of course! How could he have been such an idiot? The communication device. He'd only finished them this morning. He didn't have long to soak in his embarrassment, as the words rang in his ears. What had she meant by that? The thought set of a wave of anxiety that he tried his best to hide from the rest of the members of the patrol who were now staring at him with worry. They must really think he was crazy…

"I need a rest, I think," he lied, figuring being considered a sissy was better then having them all hear strange voices coming from his hand. "You go on, I'll catch up in no time."

"Are you sure? We could always—"

"Positive. I remember the way back. Go."

With a few shrugs and grumbles, the group turned their horses. Jay waited until he was sure they were out of earshot before pulling his hands off of the stone and pulling it to his mouth.

"Well at least I know you're locket works fine. I'm sure all of Yellowfax could have heard you, not to mention any scout who's got his arrow aimed at my back."

"_Or any certain commander of the King's Own, lady knight of the realm, army patrol, or person with a pair of eyes who is aware that you're of 'great interest to the royal family'?"_

That, he hadn't been prepared for. One foot had been in the stirrup, ready for when he pulled himself back into the saddle. But he heard her words the moment he started to swing his leg over. It wasn't very good timing, for seconds later, he had his second meeting with the ground, which he was sure added another layer of grime to his clothes.

"Emma, what are you—"

"_Save it. We'll discuss that later. For now, don't speak a word to anyone else. You hear me? Not a word. Pull your hood up, keep it up. As soon as you get back to camp, come straight to my tent. Also, how good are you at appearance illusions?"_

"I can pull them off, but any trained mage will surely—"

"_Good. We'll talk about that later, as well. Remember, NOT A WORD."_

And with a word, she was gone. He called her name a few more times, but with no avail. No more sound came from the gem around his neck and he was left there to sit in shock. She must have found out. Why else would she be acting like that? It still made no sense to him. He could understand what Raoul had to do with this. Or Alanna, or did she mean Keladry? He'd never met her before, but he'd certainly heard her name enough. They hadn't come for him…had they?

The anxiety wave was back in full force, making him sick to his stomach. The sensible side of his head was telling him to run, run while he still could. If Raoul was really looking for him, there was no chance of not being caught. Going back to camp would only make him easier to spot. Then again, if it was true that knights as well as the army was looking for him, what chance did he have outside the mercenaries? Slim to none.

Sighing, he finally pulled himself back onto his horse; weary the entire time of loud noises that might spook him. At least he could be thankful for an easy mannered horse, he thought in sad cheerfulness as he guided his horse back through the woods, pulling the hood of his cloak up as he did.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Now see, this is why we need a mage," Emma stated simply, holding up her locket to show to Bubba who merely chuckled. For an entire second as she cut communication with Jay, she forgot that she'd just lied to a very influential noble and that any second she might have her head served to her on a platter. No, for the time being she was content in marveling at the wonders of the Gift that they'd been missing out on. "Very useful. I suspect they will save us a lot of time and from a lot of yelling across long distances."

"Your voice and everyone's ears will thank you for it," Bubba chimed in.

Emma chuckled quietly as they made their way slowly across the fields to their encampment. She'd made quite sure that they were out of earshot from any stray villager or any member of the guard that had been posted outside the tavern before she started to call Jay's name into her necklace. It had taken him a long enough to answer. At least Maverick answered far more quickly and with much more enthusiasm.

"_Emma. I don't care if the Black God himself is beckonin' ya home. Stop calling me name or I'll shove this stupid key right up yer—"_

"Now, Mavy. Is that anyway to talk to a little girl?"

"_Little girl my…"_

"You're starting to sound like Prewt,"Emma informed him with a little giggle.

"_That's it! This here key is goin' where the sun don't—"_

"Oh, hush up and listen to me for a second," she ordered sternly and was rewarded with silence, which she took as his submission. Whether she was correct in assuming that or not, didn't matter. She was going to talk anyways. "We've had a visit from some nobles. Trying to push around some royal influence and the like. It seems they're looking for a certain black haired friend of ours."

"_Well that's interesting."_

"Yes, very. Send it around to our people, only our folk, that to outsiders, Jay is no longer Jay. Tell them he is…a mute. Yes, a mute mage who has been traveling with us for months. If a villager or anyone else asks about Jay, simply ask them 'Jay who?' Understand?"

There was a pause and then an uncertain, _"Kinda. I'm sure you ain't gonna tell me what all this is about, so I'll spread the word 'round."_

"Thank you, Maverick."

"_What shall his name be, lass?"_

That took a second of thought and a glance at Bubba for some help, but finally she answered, "Sullivan."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

By the time Jay had reached Emma's tent, he was fairly certain she must have talked to someone else, if not everyone. From the second he dismounted, he was greeted with a nod and a quick 'G'day, Sullivan' from Bile. At first he thought to question, but as Bile's nod turned into a shaking of the head, he knew it wasn't a good idea.

So making sure to keep his hood up as he walked, he set himself off to find Emma's tent.

About twenty more 'Hello, Sully's later, Jay finally got himself through the narrow alleyways made between the tents and found himself rapping his knuckle on a pole that held up Emma's tent. He knew which one was her's. Not because it was any different from the rest or had a flag to tell you which one it was. Emma was not so stupid as to 'have a sign saying the commander sleeps here, come kill her if you must', as she had only informed him a week ago. No, he only knew where her tent was, for it was the one most crowded on any other day or hour. At this moment, though, not one soul could be seen for a few tents around. It seemed as if for once the commander had shooed away her constant barrage of visitors.

"Come in, Sullivan."

Jay waited for the tent flap to close behind him before he finally pulled his hood back from his eyes. Even on an overcast day, it was still too hot a day to have one's hood up. Taking in a deep breath of relief, he glanced around her tent, letting his eyes adjust to the light before he finally saw her. Like he suspected, she wasn't alone. Nancy had found her way here and was sitting at the end of one bedroll as Emma sat at the other end, appearing to be concentrating intently on sharpening her dagger. Bubba was here, of course, sitting on another bedroll across the tent, seeming to be very interested in the polishing of his boots.

"Sullivan?" he had to ask, raising an eyebrow at Emma as he stayed where he was.

"Shh!" was all that came out of Emma's lips. All eyes were on her, even Bubba, who'd set down his boots to wait for her to speak. Being Emma, however, she kept them waiting. It was a full minute before she finally attached her dagger back to her belt and was pleased enough to look back at Jay.

"Listening spell," she ordered lazily, resting back on her elbows as she waited for him to fill her request.

He rolled his eyes, but that didn't stop the blue flames from flaring up around every side of the tent. It was a simple enough spell, one he'd learned at University. Not in the classroom, but instead it'd been one he'd picked up himself. It was a necessity if you ever wanted to work in private without the threat of a classmate stealing your spells. It also happened to come in very useful during private conversation with friends, specifically female 'friends', that you didn't want getting back to your parents.

Nancy and Bubba both jumped at the sudden ignition of blue flames, but little to Jay's surprise, Emma didn't so much as flinch, her stare not moving from Jay. It was the same, unnerving stare as always. It was the same one he was slowly starting to get used to, very slowly.

"Lets get a few things straight," she started in a voice he'd only heard her use when she talked to Prewt. That thought scared him alone without her even having to say anything else. He was certain Nancy heard it, too, for she sat up a little straighter and looked between Emma and Jay with a concerned face. He must not have been the only one who wasn't quite sure what Emma had found out.

"Your life means nothing to me when compared with the safety of this group."

The frown that appeared on Jay's face let on how much those words hurt. He'd been getting spoiled for the past two weeks. Being around people who treated him as an equal was such a luxury that he'd nearly forgotten what he actually was supposed to be concentrating on. He was a runaway. He most likely had the entire country looking for him, yet here he was acting as if he was a normal person. He'd nearly believed it himself, but more then that, he'd led them to believe it. Now that she'd realized that he was a threat to her and her people, this charade was over.

"Emma, look. I—"

"Let me finish," she hissed in the same chilling voice that made all three of the tent's other occupants stop breathing for a second. Here it comes, he thought, his eyes falling to the floor. Looked like he was going to see Tusaine after all. It was better this way, of course.

But in the middle of his mind coming up with a brilliant plan to change his name one more time and slip off to Tusaine, words came to his ear that brought him back into reality.

"Since you have become a member of this group, we will offer you protection. Under a few circumstances."

It took Jay a second to realize that his mouth had fallen open before he shut it and simply blinked at her in astonishment. She knew. She knew who he was, and yet she was offering to help him. This girl who had to worry about the safety of hundreds of people was willing to worry about him. He felt flattered for a short few moments, even after he heard her say:

"This is partly only because we need a mage."

Smiling gently, he shook his head as he let out a sigh. "If I'll be too much of a burden, I will leave. I don't want to be too much trouble."

"No, we really do need a mage," Nancy said with a serious nod.

"Yes, we do," Emma agreed, her stern voice leaving her as she instead looked at Jay with almost pleading eyes. "Whatever it was that you did to the royal family, they'll forget about it in time. They'll declare another war. Raise taxes. They'll find something to keep themselves busy."

_Their son will go missing. _Jay gulped. So she didn't know anything after all. Barely.

"What is it you did exactly?"

All the blood drained from his face as he choked on his own words before finding a few more and stumbling them out as they came. "Well…I didn't really…I actually only…I mean…"

"Perhaps it's best if you don't tell us," Emma suggested, causing Jay to sigh with relief and the other two to nod in agreement. "From now on, around others you are mute. Not a word. You're name is Sullivan, you're a mage who's traveled with us for a long period of time. Understand?"

Jay nodded. "You said something about illusions…"

"Ah, yes. That's right," she started before appearing to have gone into deep thought. "You said you could do them, correct?" she asked, but without waiting for an answer she went on, "You'd just need a specific one for when outsiders are around. If it's just in the camp or at night, it won't be needed. They've got descriptions of you, I'm sure. If you want to refrain from getting yourself and us caught, I suggest you make it a good one."

"But see, I'm not very good at them. Any amateur would believe them, but say if a black robe looked at me, he'd see through it in a second." He'd learned that from experience. While appearance illusions were useful tidbits of knowledge to help you sneak out of the palace, they weren't much use if your 'uncle' was Numair Salmalín. He couldn't count how many times he'd been caught in the palace hallways on his way to a tavern only to have his disguises rudely removed, and sent grumbling back to his quarters.

"Well it's a good thing you won't be around many black robes, isn't it? Besides, you'll have me. Don't worry. All you have to do is come up with one."

Jay wasn't so convinced. He opened his mouth to argue, knowing it was a risk just to attempt an illusion in front of a trained mage or someone with the sight, but Emma and the other two seemed sure. Why shouldn't she be? She only was convinced that she was the messenger of Mithros. Then again, if that didn't say she was insane, he didn't know what would.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm getting myself in over my head?"

Nancy was quick with an answer, "It's exhaustion, love. You've tired yourself out today."

"You're free to leave at any time," Emma reminded him as he sighed again. If only things were that simple.

"Perhaps we should start working on that illusion."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It took another two grueling hours to get his disguise just right. The first one he tried made him look only slightly older but with blonde hair and brown eyes. Nancy thought that one hadn't changed his bone structure enough. Emma thought he still looked too young. The second made him look about in his early fifties with brown graying hair and green eyes. This one was too old for all their tastes.

"First too young, then too old! Will you make up your mind!"

Finally, after another hour of tweaking and complaints, they found one that was just right. This one made him look like a man in his late twenties or early thirties. His hair was blonde, both eyes were still blue, but a lighter shade, while one was glazed over as if he was blind in one eye. A long scar ran down his cheekbone, that had been Bubba's idea, while his skin appeared a shade darker then it normally did.

The illusion, as Emma had made clear, was to stay on until he entered his tent to sleep that night. Whenever he left the confines of his tent, the illusion was to be in place.

Grumbling, Jay made his way out of the tent, itching in annoyance at the scar and seeing no way how he was going to get used to looking like a maimed old mage. He wasn't vain, by any means, but it hadn't been ten minutes of having it on and he was already starting to miss his old looks. The day they left this town couldn't come any sooner.

"OH, JAY! JAY! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for—Ah!"

As Jay turned instinctively to the sound of the squealing girl, he couldn't have been more pleased to see the disgusted look on her face as she saw that it wasn't 'Jay' under this cloak, but the new Sullivan. At least this was going to be good for something. This girl from the village had barely left him alone since he'd arrived at Yellowfax. Van constantly joked, saying perhaps she would ask him to marry her rather then leave with the mercenaries when they went, but Jay didn't find it very amusing.

He was about to open his mouth to tell her to blow off, but then he remembered. He was a mute. The girl wasn't letting him walk away any time soon, and it was a miracle when Nancy came out of the tent behind him and was quick with a: "Jay who?"


	12. Almost As Good

"C'mon, Orville! Get up! You don't want to be shown up by a _girl_ do you?"

The children that were gathered around Emma and her opponent, Orville, who had seconds ago been cheering suddenly fell silent at the insult to their Emma. The hardened look on their young faces was so threatening and serious that Jay couldn't help but laugh, half in amusement and half in pity for the poor soul who thought to call her a mere girl in front of her adoring fans.

Things would have been much worse, though, if there wasn't already a cheerful mood about the camp. It had been two days since they left Yellowfax, and it seemed as if a weight was lifted off everyone's shoulders the second they were at least ten miles away from the village. Jay was of course especially happy to say goodbye to the town, for it meant saying goodbye to any threat of getting caught. Well at least he prayed to the gods that that was how things would work out. He'd slipped out of his disguise only when Emma told him to, but he was certain he would have been happy with just being called Jay again. The name Sullivan was starting to wear on his nerves.

As Emma's second generation of followers were busy reprimanding the 'sexist piece of pig dung' for his remark, Jay sat with his back against a fallen log, arms folded over his chest as he watched the practice sword fight with a number of other mercenaries. He couldn't help but think that the man's comments might have been justified. Who wouldn't be surprised to see a well-built man who was about in his thirties being beaten by a girl who barely reached up to his shoulder? However odd it was, it was still what was happening. As Emma stood in a relaxed position, one hand on her hip and the other twirling her sword lazily, poor Orville was in the dirt, groping for his fallen short sword.

"It wouldn't be the first time one of ye men was shown up by our Em!" Nancy called happily from a seat across the circle. Her hands were busy healing the cut of a small child who shared her kind face with Prewt's dark hair, but her eyes still glanced up at the action from time to time. "She might even best the Lioness if she ever gets to chance!"

While most cheered in agreement, it was a loud snort that caught the most attention. Jay instantly wished he'd held his laugh in as the glares of not only the children but the entire group of spectators was now staring at him as if they were planning on tying a rock to his ankle and throwing him in the lake. They were in lake district after all. It wouldn't take them long to find a spot deep enough to leave him to drown.

"Well…I mean…She's good with a sword and all, but beat the Lioness?" The thought made him want to snort again, but his knowledge of these people's tendencies to act before they thought was of more importance in his mind. It'd only been a week since the bump on his head had gone away after all. "The Lioness is the best swordsmen in Tortall if not Tortall and all it's neighbors combined. No one's been able to beat her. Emma's good, but…"

He decided he might as well stop while he was ahead. Perhaps he was becoming one of them. It wasn't much like him to speak before he thought, but it was habit. The Lioness was another aunt to him. She was only his father's champion, after all. He'd grown up admiring her and having her try to 'teach' him basic swordplay, which most always meant he'd ended up with his backside sore for the rest of the week. He held her in such high esteem that the thought of anyone beating her was well…unbelievable. Though, he had to remember, none of these folk would know his close relation to Alanna, nor did he want them to know. This was why he needed, and was going to, keep his mouth shut from now on.

"Jay has a point," Emma said suddenly, reaching out a free hand to help poor Orville to his feet. "I'm sure the Lioness is a site to behold. I'd love to meet her someday. Jay having lived in the Capital must have seen her fight before. Isn't that right, Jay?"

Her coming to his defense caught him off guard on it's own to the point that he could only nod at her question and listen to the soft 'ohs' that emitted from the crowd. Jay'd thought that was the end of it until suddenly he found the handle of Orville's short sword under his nose. Gazing up in confusion, he caught Emma's mischievous smirk.

"Care to take a stab at it, Jay?"

"If it's all the same, I'd rather not…"

The audience, to his dismay, was not going to let him off that easily. There were catcalls, calling him a girl and a sissy, which of course got all the females present staring angrily at their male companions. It was Emma in the end, though, with her steady gaze and evil smirk who got him to give in.

"I won't kill you, Jay. I promise." After all the trouble she'd gone through for him, she wasn't about to gut him right here and now.

Giving in, he reached up and took the sword by the handle before he was helped to his feet by Emma's surprisingly firm grip. She gave him a moment to collect himself, straighten his tunic, and find a good footing. Without warning and before he was actually fully ready, however, she struck to his left. Her glittering sword would have sliced open his arm if he hadn't blocked it just in the nick of time.

"What's it like to see the Lioness dual?" she asked just as she lunged and nearly sliced open his stomach. He blocked her again as he tried to shake his hair from his eyes and counter her attack.

"Well some say she's faster then light it self," he repeated one of the many comparison's he'd heard over the years as he swung at her side, which she blocked and countered instantly. "She seems tiny in person, a dwarf compared to most of the men she fights." He swore he could hear his hairs slice as he ducked another one of her swings to his head. "But she's incredibly strong. She's brought men twice her size to their knees with just one blow."

It went on like that for minutes in silence, not counting the sound their swords made as they clashed together or of Emma smacking the dirt to only roll up again a half a second later. It wasn't until their swords were locked together, hilt to hilt, that she spoke again.

"You know, the Lioness is the only noble worthy of any respect." Her words were not directed at Jay, but at the group who all instantly agreed with another round of cheers.

Their eyes met in a steady stare between the two that continued as they both pushed their sword as hard as they could against the other's, fighting to gain ground over the other and force them to fall back first.

Their faces were inches apart as Jay asked breathlessly, "There's not any other nobles you respect? Not one?"

No answer came from her mouth, though Jay was certain he already knew what it was from the look in her eyes. It was the same stubborn, willful look he'd seen in her eyes when they first met and he'd heard her talking then about nobles so lowly. In some corner of his mind, he knew that most didn't deserve any respect, but at the front of his mind was the knowledge he'd received as being raised as noble by nobles. What of his mother, who he clearly remembered giving up her horse to an old, common man who was going by foot to the coast? What of Duke Baird, who he'd watched heal refugees of their lice during the war with Scanra? Uncle George who even as a Baron still had friends in the Lower City? His own brother who put off his wedding to keep his people from starving? What had they done so wrong to not deserve her respect?

He got his answer alright, at least to his first question, but it was only after he felt himself stumbling back and falling to the ground. About to roll to the side to get away from her strike, he found her sword already at his throat instead. She'd won.

Looking up into her face, he dropped the sword onto the ground as he sat there, trying to catch his breath. The question was gone from his mind until he finally heard her answer.

"Not one."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Judging by the way Emma had kept to herself for the remainder of the day and the beginning of the next one, everyone assumed they should prepare themselves for another task. She always had a tendency to get reclusive during her conversations with herself, which everyone assured Jay were with Mithros. It was always after her periods of isolation that she would emerge, telling them what adventure they were off on next. This new one she had planned for them came as no surprise to most, except Jay of course.

"We're going to meet our other half," she told the simply as she came out of her tent for the first time in twenty-four hours. Jay had been waiting for her along with half of the mercenaries. Everyone nodded suddenly understand and quickly going to start tearing down the tents. It was only Jay who was left to stand there like a lost puppy.

"We're…what?"

Emma had already disappeared behind a tent and was out of site, so it was Van who answered him as he grabbed him by the elbow. He had no intention of pulling down their tent on his own without help and as he'd seen Maverick disappear to help Burgundy, a certain blonde he'd been eyeing for months, Jay was now his last hope.

"Our other half. The other half of the mercenaries. Last we heard, they were up by Scanra, helping out some border town that was still dealing with damage after the war. Seemed like them royals forgot all about 'em, so Emma sent up Price to go help."

Ah. Now Jay remembered. The second, small half of the mercenaries. There were already so many people that he barely knew in this half, that he couldn't imagine how many people there would be once they were combined.

As they reached their tent and quickly rolled up their bedrolls, Jay couldn't help but wonder about this mysterious third in command.

"So what's this Price Chase like?" Jay asked out of curiosity.

The only answer he got as they exited the tent to start tearing it down was a loud groan. As he glanced over at Van, his eyebrows raising, his friend just shook his head in a way that told Jay he didn't want to know. He persisted, though, giving Van a little glare, until finally he got an explanation.

"He's sorta full of himself. Lets leave it at that."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As usual, Jay was shocked by how quick the mercenaries managed to break down at least fifty tents, pack them up, and mount their horses. It took them less then two hours, slightly longer then it took them when they left Yellowfax, but it was still amazing in Jay's mind. If Emma wasn't so anti-noble, he would seriously have considered advising his mother to give her a high rank in the Riders. Though, he doubted Emma would take any job that had anything to do with the crown.

Riding was fairly slow and lazy. Emma at the front didn't seem to be in much of a hurry so the rest followed at a steady pace. In fact, it was the calmest most had seen her in weeks. There was actually a smile on her face as she carried on a lively conversation with Maverick and Bubba. Jay rode alone, as Van was very busy flirting with the two strawberry blonde twins beside him. It provided a source of amusement if nothing else, seeing poor Van try his hardest and then hearing those girls giggle wickedly. If Jay were him, he would have given up on these mercenary women a long time ago. They were just as bad, if not worse, then the women he'd grown up around. And _that_ was saying something.

He had half in mind to say something, but one, he was only riding one horse behind Nancy and two behind Emma. He rather valued his head, thank you very much. Secondly, even if he had been brave enough to say something, he never would have gotten the chance anyways. Before he would have had the chance to open his mouth, the riders in front of him came to a sudden halt as a hush started from the front back.

"What's going on?" Jay asked Van in a hushed whisper, but before Van could even so much as shrug his shoulders he heard his name being called.

"JAY! NANCY!"

"Uh oh," Van whispered back with a slight grin as Jay nudged his horse, cautiously past Prewt's, towards the front of the line.

What he saw as he stopped his horse besides Bubba's was enough to kill the cheerful mood about the group along with his appetite for the next week or so. His hand instantly brought up a piece of his cloak to cover his mouth and nose. If he could cover his eyes from the gruesome scene, he would have, but it was too late. The picture in front of him would already be burned into his memory.

The thing that had brought the entire ride to a complete stop had once been a person. It was hard to imagine it, as now; the decomposing body lying in the trail was covered in flies. It was impossible to tell whether it was a man or woman, how old it was, even what its face looked like.

"Gods," was Nancy's first startled reply as she stared down at the body. After a moment of shock, she dismounted and without even a hint of disgust moved even closer to the body. Just seeing her hand mere inches from the body caused Jay to gain even more respect for her then he already had.

"How long has it been…" Emma started to ask.

It took Nancy a second to answer. When she did, she stood up with a sad look on her face as she turned to Emma, "I'd say about a week. It looks like it must have been bandits of some kind. See how his throat is slit? And his face seems to have been beaten very badly."

"I'd rather not see that," Bubba said as he turned his face away along with many of the other men. But Emma kept her eyes on the body, her face unflinching as she thought.

"Bury him," she ordered, causing many to look up with disgust, but in the end they knew they had no other choice. Her fingers snapped as she pointed at two young men a few horses behind her. They came up without question.

"Wrap him in your…" she started but suddenly she stopped. Her eyes that hadn't left the two men since they'd started to movie the body were suddenly on Jay. "Wrap him in your cloak."

Blinking in surprise, he looked down at his black cloak slightly fondly. It was the one thing he had left from home, but at Emma's unblinking gaze he unlatched the cloak from around his neck and tossed it to one of the men. It was only a cloak after all, he reminded himself.

"You need a red one, anyways."

**I'd like to give a big thank you to my reviewers. Seriously, you guys make my day, and this chapter would never have been written without you.**


	13. First Impressions

Another thing that he should have learned by now, was that with the mercenaries first impressions were never accurate. Maverick had seemed like a kidnapping rogue when they first met. Emma had seemed like an overly violent and bossy little girl. Van he'd thought was a lazy slacker who was too interested in women. Well, Van was a slacker who was too interested in women. Anyways, besides Van and perhaps Prewt, first impressions with this lot didn't seem to stick. With the third in command, Price Chase, it was the same story.

"So you're Jay?"

Price greeted him with a friendly smile and a firm handshake. He was tall, not as tall as Bubba, but still a few inches taller then Jay. Lanky might have been a better word to describe him. With his brown hair and long, thin arms, he almost reminded Jay of the 'Crow Man' Aly had brought home during a visit last winter. It was obvious he held himself in very high regard by the way he stuck back his shoulder blades and held his nose up high in the air. He carried himself more like a Count then a simple mercenary, Jay noted as he shook his hand and simply nodded.

"And you must be Price."

"Heard of me, eh?"

Jay blinked. As he glanced over Price's shoulder, he could have sworn he saw Van, who was helping another mercenary pitch their tent not a few feet away, grin at him with an 'It told you so' face.

"Not more then your name, I'm afraid."

"Oh…well it must have just slipped their minds," Price told him, his nose going even further into the air if that was even possible.

Jay raised an eyebrow at him, half in mind to ask him if he was sniffing for his dinner or perhaps a latrine, but before he could, his next words came out. "I'm sure if there was something to hear about, they would have told me."

The smirk on Price's thin lips wavered for half a second. His eyes narrowed just slightly at Jay before the smile was back. It was so quick that Jay was starting to wonder whether he'd actually seen the venom in his eyes or he'd imagined it. Shaking his head, he shook the thought away as he gave Price one last smile and nod before walking past him to go help Maverick set up their own tent.

It was another camp for the mercenaries. Emma didn't seem to have any new orders for them from their first in command, so she told them all to simply sit tight. They'd found a field that seemed to be apart of an abandoned homestead. The old farmhouse was still in tact, even if it was missing it's windows and doors. As Emma set up camp on the first floor of the house, Bubba by her side, the rest of them started to set up their tents.

"He doesn't seem all that bad," Jay told Van and Maverick as they were unrolling their bedrolls.

The other two glanced at each other and simply shook their heads. Maverick cast Jay a knowing grin while Van smirked before both disappeared out of the tent.

If Jay was expecting to get any sleep that night, he was cruelly mistaken. While he was ready to curl up in his bedroll and go to sleep, the rest of the mercenaries had other plans. Some of the men disappeared on their horses for a few hours and come back, producing a number of small kegs of whisky and ale. Campfires were made and though some of the younger children and older warriors spent the night sleeping, the majority spent the entire night laughing and drinking. It was a jolly old reunion for those who hadn't seen their friends in months only made more jolly by the ale. Songs were sung, some danced, there was one or two brawls, and even Jay found himself joining in on some of the festivities.

It was close to midnight, or perhaps it was midnight, when Jay finally started to stumble back to his tent. The party was not even close to being over, but lively parties always had a way of tiring him out. He'd had far less to drink then most of the men, but he still found himself only wanting to crash onto his bed. Sleep was the first thing on his mind.

His tent was in view. He was so close that he grinned in relief and nearly stumbled the last few feet, but someone else had other ideas in mind. Without warning, someone stepped into his path and forced Jay to stop. Jay stepped back abruptly, blinking up in the dark at the stranger. The dark shadow he cast was not one he recognized at first glance, but as he squinted harder he let out an 'ah' of realization.

"'Scuse me, Price. My bed's calling."

Again, Price had other ideas. As Jay tried to take a step around him, Price blocked his way again.

"You're not about to kidnap me and drag me over the Tusaine border for interrogation are you?" was all his mouth could stumble out as he tilted his head back to stare up at his face. It was possible, though, wasn't it? At least his slightly impaired mind thought so. Price seemed a little puzzled by the question at first, but he recovered quickly enough.

"What are your intentions with Emma?"

Jay blinked. "What?"

"You heard me," Price sneered, pushing Jay's shoulder roughly enough that he nearly stumbled back.

All Jay could do was scratch his head. He understood the question well enough. It was a question he'd asked many of his sisters' suitors, but he couldn't understand why Price would ask him this question. He didn't seem to mean it in any brotherly way. By the look on his face he seemed more like he was…jealous.

A small giggle came out of him at the thought only to be pushed again. "Are you going to answer me, you maggot, or not?"

"Why in the name of the Goddess would I answer anyone who called me a maggot?" Jay asked. It was more of an honestly curious question then sarcasm, but Price didn't take it that way.

Reaching forward, Price wrapped his finger in the front Jay's tunic, pulling him so their faces were mere inches apart. The seriousness in his face was enough to push all humor out of Jay's mind…well almost all of it.

"Stay away from Emma, you piece of…"

"Your breath smells like fish," Jay informed him as he tried to pry the fingers out of his shirt. "It would be pretty hard to stay away from her considering well, she's only my commander and me her loyal servant. I only do her bidding."

Price's anger boiled over and he struck out at Jay, determined to swipe the sarcasm out of his voice with his fist. His strike hit Jay in the left eye, causing him to step back with a small shout of pain as his hands went up to his wounded eye.

"She's mine," Price hissed. "Don't you forget it. She has no interest in _you_. Don't think I haven't heard about the way you two have been 'spending so much time together' while I was gone. Well I'm back now. She won't have to waste her time on you anymore."

Jay wasn't going to pretend he wasn't completely taken aback by this. He'd gotten used to being teased by certain tent mates of his for the time he spent with Emma, but it was nothing compared to the jealous rage that Price showed on his face. He liked Emma well enough. It was possible he might have even had a romantic liking in her if he wasn't who he was and she wasn't who she was, but Price's accusations were just plain ridiculous. Not to mention he actually acted like he was betrothed to her or something.

_Oh gods_, he thought, his own stomach twisting in jealousy. He stared up at Price with his mouth hanging slightly open as he asked, "You two…you aren't…?"

Price clearly understood his meaning. Folding his arms over his chest, his cocky smirk was back across his lips. "Yes we most certainly are."

He couldn't say it. No, he had to hold it in. He didn't want another black eye to match the one he already had. He had to keep his mouth shut. Yes, that was a good plan. No more talking. No more so much as opening your mouth. Don't say it. He couldn't, he just couldn't but…

"Strange. I never thought Emma would be so desperate."

As he'd predicted, the last thing he remembered before hitting the ground was a swift punch to his good eye.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Still think he's 'not all that bad'?"

Jay let out a groan as he woke up to Van's chuckles. He tried to open at least one eye but it only drew another groan from his mouth.

"I feel like I was trampled by an ogre."

Van chuckled again as he kneeled down next to Jay. He had still been lying there in the dirt when Van had finally decided to go to bed. The poor bloke's face was bruised as hell and it wasn't hard to put two and two together from the way Price was sulking away into the night. Van had decided to take pity on his friend and after dragging him into their tent and dropping him onto his bedroll, he'd sent Maverick to try and find Nancy.

"He has that impression on everyone, whether he punches 'em or not."

Jay's reply was another low groan as he shut his eyes and rested his hands over his face. His face ached, his mind raced. Even with his eyes swelled up and his nose bleeding, his mind still was replaying everything that he'd said about Emma like they were already married. It made him feel slightly sick to his stomach. He wanted to ask Van about it, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he heard the tent flap open and he heard Nancy's voice.

"Jay!" she scolded in a disappointed tone. "I never took ye for the brawling type. Thought you'd be too good for that."

She leaned down beside him and before he could even answer she shushed him. Resting her warm hand on his face, she clucked as his eyes started to tingle and slowly go down in size. The bleeding out of his nose dwindled and then stopped all together.

"You'll have a nice black eye for about a week or so, but at least you'll be able to see."

As if that was his cue, Jay slowly peeled his eyelids open to smile up at Nancy thankfully. "My first battle scar. My Da will be so proud."

She snorted and patted his shoulder. "I'm sure he would. Just make it a more worth while battle next time 'round."

He simply nodded his head, feeling even more tired then before he was harassed. He avoided all questions of who punched him by saying it was just some drunk who's name he didn't know. Nancy seemed to believe it and left shortly after, but both Van and Maverick wouldn't tire of snickering as they took turns calling Price obscene names. Kicking off his boots, Jay rolled onto his other side away from them.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"_Goddess_! What happened to your face?"

"I fell down."

From the look Emma gave him the next morning, he knew she wasn't buying it. Her gaze was trying to pierce right through his act, but Jay would have none of it. He'd taken his warning from Price. He wasn't quite ready for another beating just yet.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Jay?"

"No. I actually think you're rather bright."

She gave him one last questioning glare before she simply rolled her eyes. It was a sign of defeat that made Jay mentally let out a sigh of relief. The warning look Price was giving him from across the deserted room was enough to make him squirm where he stood, but he kept his cool. His hands clasped behind his back, he leaned against the wall beside Bubba.

It was early in the morning, the morning after his encounter with Price. His face was still sore, but he ignored it. He was too eager to see what was next in store for them. He hadn't been with the mercenaries long, but he was already starting to get sucked into their world. There was something fulfilling in the thought that they were helping people while defying his parents. It was the daydream he'd had many times as a child come to life. Of course he had never imagined himself in a deserted farmhouse, waiting around to be given orders by a fifteen year old girl, but hey. It worked.

The room was quiet as Emma paced back and forth. Her feet left footprints in the dust and dirt on the floor. Suddenly she stopped beside a window. She was silent for a few moments as she stared out of the empty window frame. Finally, she spoke with a small sigh.

"I am afraid I haven't got much for you, my little chicks."

There were a few disappointed groans from those gathered in the room before she turned and they died away. She had an almost apologetic look on her face. She clearly could understand their annoyance at having nothing useful to do.

"There was a murder in a village not far from here. A man found his wife dead and their three children missing. It seems the killer must have been the woman's lover. A lover scorned. There must have been a fight that got out of control, and out of anger, he seems to like the idea of selling the children once he crosses the border into Tusaine. He shouldn't be too hard to find, with two six year olds and one nine month old."

Many looked up with hopeful eyes, eager to set out, but Emma gave them another apologetic frown.

"I think it will only require a few of us." More groans. "I think I shall go. I'll bring Bubba with me. Nancy, you should come as well. The children might need a healer. And…Jay. Why don't you come along? Don't forget your disguise."

Both Nancy and Jay nodded, trying to ignore the glares they received.

"For the rest of you, there's a spindren nest a little ways north of here. No one seems to have noticed it yet, but best to get rid of the trouble before it starts. It's about a days ride from here, so we shall meet you when we're finished with the filth. We shouldn't take more then a half day, I think. I'll leave Maverick and Price in charge."

Everyone nodded, reluctantly, especially Price. By the way he glanced at Maverick who was next to him, he seemed revolted by the thought of having to share leadership with Maverick, but he kept his mouth shut anyways. Jay nearly grinned at the vile look on his face and the smug one on Maverick's, but he tucked it away and instead went out to fetch his horse, slipping on his disguise as he went.

**Sorry this chapter took so long. I finished it weeks ago, but only gave up on adding more to it a few hours ago. Thanks for the love guys. I know this chap probably sucks, but keep reading. I'll try to update sooner next time.**


End file.
